How To Properly Take A Flute Apart

When taking flute lessons from a really knowledgeable flute teacher, you should be taught how to properly take a flute apart first thing. But, I know that sometimes the little details can be overlooked, and ultimately cost your flute’s life to end early.

Sound dramatic?

It is.

In all seriousness this is one of THE most common mistakes I see flute students of all sizes, ages, and shapes make when disassembling their flutes.

The head joint and the foot joint of a flute both need to be twisted on and off in order to keep the metal perfectly shaped.[/headline]

Let me briefly explain.

Whether you can tell or not, the body (long piece) of the flute has tapered ends. The head joint and the foot joint both need to be twisted onand off in order to keep the metal perfectly shaped. This will keep the joints tight, not leaking air, and not loose.

Flutists who do not understand this will shove and yank when assembling and disassembling creating a strrretch in the metal which will cause especially the foot joint to get so loose it may (and oftentimes does) fall off by itself.

Falling pieces is not a good thing. (think “broken flute”)

I’m sure you agree.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Twist flutists, twist. It’s the cool thing to do.

Have any questions? Comment below and I will help you out.

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9 thoughts on “How To Properly Take A Flute Apart”

Hey Neil, if you are coming back to your flute within a few minutes you can leave it out, but if it will be hours then you should definitely put it away. It will not be shiny and pretty anymore if you leave it out too much. Glad you asked. 🙂 Rebecca

I remember you saying in one of your flute care videos that I should disassemble and put my flute away every time I’m finished playing. Should I consider rather putting my flute on it’s stand if I’m going to play again in a few hours or so? What are we protecting against by putting it away every time? Obviously, I want to take extremely good care of my flute and I was thinking I should also look at minimising the number of times I choose to disassemble it. Thanks so much for all your help – you’re fantastic!